Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

Een klein leven by Hanya Yanagihara

2046 reviews

karkei's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Where does one start with this book? 

I can hardly conceive that life can be so harsh to one person. My heart goes out to Jude. He’s a character that you constantly want to protect. How privileged we are that most of us may never truly understand the full depths of what Jude has gone through. 

I will not pretend to be an angel though. There were many points that I got frustrated at Jude, like “Can’t you see how you are hurting the people you love? Can’t you see how much they are doing for you?” But then, I come back to myself and I feel guilty - I’m no better than JB, all self centered and discounting Jude in his entirety. Or maybe worse, because JB doesn’t actually know what happened to Jude and I do 🥲

I like to think that just with the people who love him though, loving someone is taking all of them. I love Jude and I care for him and hence, I wanted him to see himself as worthy and I wanted him to survive and be happy. 

What I originally thought was a story about Jude, however, ends up being a story about Willem. And where do I start with this? 

Willem, you are the most patient, kind, loving character.

I did not see that accident coming and I truly mourned for you.

You gave Jude so much love and were so understanding. Most people couldn’t have done what you did. 

To Harold and Andy, you also have a special place in my heart. 

A Little Life was a book I was scared to pick up because all I heard about it was that it was highly traumatic. While there was trauma, however, this book went way beyond that for me. It is a reminder of how unforgiving but beautiful life can be and how fortunate we should all be for our little lives ❤️ 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Child death, and Grief

Minor: Forced institutionalization and Car accident

mochiwaffles's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

cerysvy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

captdummy's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

katieeyu's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Blood

mrgrdsnts's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I loved the book… but it was very hard for me to read… i had to put it down a lot of times… it’s harsh but i think it has it’s meaning and that it is a good story.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Grief

selimhannah's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Drug use, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

brittastrophee's review against another edition

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

jamesj3's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

baumej's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

A Little Life was…….. tough to read. I had a hard time deciding how I felt about the book, so much so that I’m coming to this review about two weeks after finishing. I think what’s so challenging about deciding how I feel about this book is the fact that Yanagihara’s prose is one of a kind. There are several passages in the book that verbalized feelings that I had never before put to words, that were so beautiful they had me tearing up. Unfortunately the main character Jude’s story is just… unbelievable. Truly I had a hard time believing that his life was something that could actually happen to someone in the world. It broke my enjoyment of the book several times and had me feeling that the author was just exemplifying the trope of gay people as vessels of trauma. I could not handle it and had several eye rolls reading this. So, I’m still trying to decide how I feel about this book. I loved parts of it, I hated other parts.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Addiction